Combined uv and heater for spa applications

ABSTRACT

A spa having a heater and a UV source combined in single housing that receives water from the spa such that water within the housing is simultaneously heated and treated with UV radiation for water treatment purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to spa applications and in particularconcerns a heater and UV disinfectant assembly suitable for heating andtreating water in spa and related applications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Spas and other recreational water tubs are commonly used. Since thesetubs have heated water and also have people getting into and out of thetubs, various disinfectant systems must be used in the tubs to ensurethat the water remains free of contaminants, bacteria and the like.Commonly, pools and spas use chemical treatment systems where chemicalssuch as chlorine and bromine are added to the water so as to killharmful bacteria and other organisms in the water.

One difficulty that occurs with these types of chemical systems is thatthe spa owner has to be diligent in putting the chemicals into the tubat regular intervals or the water may become contaminated or discolored.Further, the chemicals can be harsh and hard on the tub equipment overtime and also unpleasant to the people using the tub.

Other types of treatment systems have been developed for treating water.For example, some pools and other water features are treated with UVlight. However, UV light treatment devices are often large andcumbersome which makes implementing these types of systems inapplications such as spas difficult due to the space constraints thatcan occur in these types of applications. More specifically, spastypically heat the water to a desired temperature and the spas can beself-contained units. The heating systems occupy space within the spacabinet and there is often not sufficient room to include separatestand-alone UV disinfectant systems.

Hence, there is a need for a compact device that allows for non-chemicalor reduced chemical treatment of water. To this end, there is a need foran assembly that is capable of UV treating of water in applications suchas self-contained spas that is compact and fits within existing spaenclosures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aforementioned needs are satisfied by a combined heater and UVtreatment assembly of the present invention. In one specificimplementation, the assembly includes a housing that defines an interiorspace and within the interior space is a heater coil and a UV source.The housing includes an inlet and an outlet so that water can be flowedthrough the interior space of the housing and be heated by the heaterand also subjected to UV radiation from the UV source.

In one specific implementation, the heater comprises a 1000 to 6000 wattheater and the UV source comprises a standard UV bulb. It will beappreciated, however, the heater and UV bulb can vary in output basedupon the implementation of this invention without departing from thespirit of the present invention.

In one implementation, the UV light source is positioned within atransparent tube such as a quartz or glass tube so that the UV lightsource is insulated from the water that is flowing into the tub. In oneimplementation, the UV bulb is positioned through a fitting and a plugis connected to an electrical power source and is held in place in thetube and fitting via a flexible cover that engages with the fitting. TheUV bulb can then be replaced by pulling off the flexible cover andremoving the bulb from the plug assembly.

In one implementation, the housing comprises a first housing and asecond housing that engage with each other so as to form a substantiallywatertight enclosure. In this implementation, the heater and the UVlight source are positioned on opposite housings at opposite ends. Inanother implementation, a thermostat is included to measure watertemperature within the housing.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a spa;

FIG. 2 is an opened view of one embodiment of a combined heater and UVassembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a closed assembled view of the combined heater and UV assemblyof FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals referto like parts throughout. As shown in FIG. 1, a typical spa 50 includesa tub 52 that has water. The spa 50 also includes a filtration andcirculation system 54 that cleans and heats the water that is providedto the tub 52. The typical filtration system 54 includes pumps tocirculate the water and also includes particle filters and other filtersto filter debris out of the water. Further, the system 54 in thisembodiment, includes a heating element 104 and the UV treatment source122.

The filtration system 54 is preferably positioned within a cabinet 58which is preferably small in size so as to reduce the overall footprintof the spa 50. Preferably, the heating element 104 and the UV treatmentsource 122 is positioned comprises a single assembly 100 positionedwithin a single housing 102 that receive the circulating water in thecirculation system 54 so as to reduce the amount of space that isoccupied by the heating element 104 and the UV treatment source 122.

Referring to FIG. 2, the assembly 100 includes a housing 102 that iscomprised of a first housing member 102 a and a second, or upper,housing member 102 b. The first housing member 102 a includes a heatingelement 104 and a temperature sensor 106 mounted on a first surface 108.Wiring extends through the surface 108 to contacts on the outer side ofthe housing 100 to facilitate connection of the heating element 104 andthe temperature sensor 106 to power supplies and control units. Theheating element 104 is positioned adjacent a first end 110 of thehousing member 102 a and comprises a wound coil element that has anoutput of 1000 to 6000 watts but this can vary for larger or smallerapplications. The heating element 104 is, in this implementation,shorter and has more windings than existing heating elements 104 toaccommodate the UV light in the manner that will be described below. Inone implementation, the interior of the housing 102 is approximately 14″long by 2″ wide and 2″ deep and the heater is 6″ long and 1″ tall with12 coils.

The housing member 102 a defines a recessed lip 112 that is adapted toreceive a portion 113 of the upper housing member 102 b so as to providea water tight seal between the two housing members 102 a, 102 b. Theupper housing member 102 b has a protruding lip 114 that mates with therecess 112 so as to form the water tight seal. Various protrusions andfastener openings as well as gaskets, etc. may also be used to securethe housing members 102 a, 102 b together.

The upper housing 102 b, at a second end 120 includes a UV source 122.The UV source 122 includes a transparent tube 124 that houses a commonlyavailable UV light bulb 126. The UV source 122 extends inward from thesecond end 122 and radiates UV radiation into a region of the housing102 that the water flows through to thereby sterilize the water.

The second end 120 of the upper housing 102 b has an opening throughwhich the UV light bulb 126 is inserted into the tube 124. A metalfitting 130 may be attached to secure the tube 124 to the housing 120and the tube 124 electrically isolates the UV light bulb 126 from thewater in the housing 102. A flexible plastic cap 132 (FIG. 3) fits overthe metal fitting 130 to secure the UV light bulb 126 in the tube 124.The cap 132 is electrically connected to a power source via a cord 133.Preferably, the UV light source 126 can be disconnected from theelectrical power source via a plug assembly and removal and replacementof the UV light bulb 126 is simplified in that the flexible plastic cap132 is removed from the fitting, the light bulb 126 is unplugged and areplacement light bulb is then plugged in and retained in the metalfitting 130 via the plastic cap 132. It will be appreciated, however,that the manner in which the light bulb 126 is fixed within the housingcan vary without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the light source 122 may also be coupled via aballast component to an electrical power source either through a plug orhardwiring. As is also shown, the upper housing member 102 b includes aninlet 140, located at a first end, and an outlet 142, located at thesecond end 120, that allows water to flow through the housing 102. Itwill be appreciated that the inlet and outlets can be reversed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

As the water flows through, it is heated by the heating element to adesired temperature and is also exposed to UV light. The flow ratesthrough one exemplary embodiment is 1 GPM to 10 GPM for a ¾ inch inletport. With this type of application, this exemplary system can filter a400 gallon tank at a rate of 6 GPM in a little over an hour.Advantageously, the heating element 104 and the UV light source 122 arespaced apart and do not overlap so that the heating element 104 doesn'tunnecessarily heat the UV light source and potentially damage theeffectiveness of the UV light source 124. Positioning the UV lightsource 122 at a different end than the heating element 104 providessufficient spacing between the two components.

As shown in FIG. 2, the UV light source 124 does not overlap the heater104. In one implementation, the UV light source 124 comprises a 10 W UVlight source and the heater 104 is a 1000 to 6000 W heater. Water iscirculated through the interior of the housing 102 and the water iscontinuously and simultaneously treated and heated by the UV lightsource 124 and the heater 104. The efficacy of the heating and treatmentis demonstrated in the Applicant's provisional application to which thisapplication claims priority and which is incorporated by reference inits entirety.

The assembly thus provides a compact assembly that can not only heat thewater but also disinfects or purifies the water by exposing it to UVradiation. Combining the two elements into a single housing that fitsthe form factor of a prior art heating housing simplifies theinstallation into existing spa and hot tub housings where space islimited. The exemplary system that is illustrated in the drawings is forone size of filtration unit. It will be appreciated that the size of theunit, the amount of water that will be treated, etc. can vary withoutdeparting from the scope of this invention.

It will be appreciated that various changes, substitutions andmodifications to the embodiment described herein may be made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of thepresent invention. Hence, the scope of the present invention should notbe limited to the foregoing discussion but should be defined by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A combined heater and UV treatment assembly for aspa comprising: a UV source; a heating element; a housing that definesan interior space that receives the heater element and the UV sourcewherein the housing includes an inlet and an outlet so that water can beflowed through the interior space of the housing and so that the waterinside of the housing is simultaneously heated by the heater and alsosubjected to UV radiation from the UV source.
 2. The assembly of claim1, wherein the heater comprises a 1000 to 6000 watt heater and the UVsource comprises a standard UV bulb.
 3. The assembly of claim 1, furthercomprising a light source housing formed of a transparent tube andwherein the UV light source is positioned within the transparent tubehaving a mounting assembly and wherein the transparent tube is attachedto a side wall of the housing so that the UV source is insulated fromthe water within the housing.
 4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein thetransparent tube is formed of quarts or glass.
 5. The assembly of claim3, wherein the mounting assembly comprises a fitting that extendsthrough the housing and wherein a plug is connected to an electricalpower source and is held in place in the tube and fitting via a flexiblecover that engages with the fitting.
 6. The assembly of claim 1, whereinthe housing comprises a first housing and a second housing that engagewith each other so as to form a substantially watertight enclosure. 7.The assembly of claim 6, wherein the housing has two ends and the heaterand the UV light source are positioned on opposite housings at oppositeends.
 8. The assembly of claim 7, further comprising a thermostat thatis included to measure water temperature within the housing.
 9. A spaassembly comprising: a tank containing water that is sized so as toaccommodate a person; a circulation system that circulates water intothe spa; a heater that heats the water; a UV treatment device thattreats the water wherein the circulation system and the heater and UVtreatment device are positioned within the same enclosure; and a housingthat receives both the heater and the UV treatment device, wherein thehousing is coupled to the circulation system so that water circulatesthrough the interior of the housing so as to be simultaneously treatedby the heater and UV treatment device.
 10. The assembly of claim 9,wherein the housing is elongate and has a first opening on one end and asecond opening on an upper surface wherein water flows between the firstand second opening.
 11. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the housingcomprises a first and second members with the UV treatment devicemounted on the first member and the heater mounted on the second member.12. The assembly of claim 11, wherein the first and second membersdefine first and second ends and wherein the UV treatment device ismounted on a first end and the heater is mounted adjacent a second endso as to not overlap in the interior of the housing.
 13. The assembly ofclaim 12, wherein the inlet is mounted on a first end of the firstmember of the housing and the UV treatment device is mounted on thesecond end of the housing.
 14. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the UVtreatment device comprises a transparent tube and a UV light source,wherein the transparent tube is positioned within the interior of thehousing and receives the UV light source and wherein the UV light sourceis elongated.
 15. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the transparent tubeis formed of glass or quartz.
 16. The assembly of claim 14, wherein thetransparent tube extends through the end wall of the first housingmember and is secured thereto by a ring.
 17. The assembly of claim 16,wherein the elongate UV source is positioned within the transparent tubethrough the opening in the first housing member and wherein a flexiblecap is positioned over the metal ring to retain the UV source in thetube.
 18. The assembly of claim 17, further comprising an electricalcord that is connected to the UV source via the flexible cap.
 19. Theassembly of claim 18, wherein the cap is formed of plastic.
 20. Theassembly of claim 14, further comprising a thermostat positioned withinthe interior of the housing.